Five hot women of horror

Horror pushes characters to their limits — especially female characters, who generally have to stay alert and fight back if they want to make it through two hours alive. To be a horror hottie, it’s not enough to have good looks. You need smarts, resourcefulness, strength and a special something extra. In THE WIG, airing tonight at midnight, you’ll see just how hot horror heroines can be and how, sometimes, good deeds become their own punishment.

Ji-hyeon, THE WIG
Ji-hyeon is silent, but that doesn’t make her meek and retiring. Determined to give her dying sister comfort in her last days, she buys a wig so she can go out in public without being ashamed, little knowing that the hairpiece is possessed. In a tangled plot involving her ex-boyfriend, his lover and the relationship between two sisters, Ji-hyeon needs to be resourceful, assertive and powerful if she’s going to one-up the ghost who’s trying to possess her sister. Note: If you’re looking for happy endings, you came to the wrong place.

Carrie, CARRIE
You can’t talk horror heroines without Carrie. She might seem like just an overlooked high school girl longing for attention, but she’s got a doozy of a secret power, and once it’s unleashed, you know it. As the body count racks up, Carrie takes revenge for herself — and marginalized high school girls everywhere — in a film that includes that unforgettable scene of the blood-drenched heroine walking through the flames to freedom.

Laurie Strode, HALLOWEEN
I’m sorry, did you want to stalk me? Think again. Laurie, played by a fierce young Jamie Lee Curtis, is not afraid to defend herself from anyone who tries to mess with her in the original HALLOWEEN or the followups. She may have a certain innocence about her, but it hides a spine of steel; while the classic horror movie trope usually involves the naive blonde falling to the knife early, Laurie defied tradition in a film that became a benchmark for the genre.

Ellen Ripley, ALIEN
You’ve got your Sigourney Weaver. You’ve got your aliens. And only one of them is going to come out alive. Guess who it’s gonna be. This fierce babe of battle takes out her enemies with sharp wits and a handy arsenal, knocking over all kinds of gender stereotypes while she’s at it. In the traditionally masculine-dominated science fiction, fantasy and horror of the 1970s, Ripley stood out as a striking heroine; no wonder she shows up on practically every list of groundbreaking female characters ever.

Cherry Darling, PLANET TERROR
She says her talents are useless, but we beg to disagree. Former go-go dancer Cherry Darling sets out to find her fortune and ends up in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Prepare for some feathers to fly, because while she may be a blond, busty amputee who might trick you into thinking she’s nothing much, she doesn’t let anyone ride roughshod over her, and she manages to lead the survivors to safety in the midst of chaos.